This changeover at the Vorarlberger Nachrichten used individual software components to achieve an editorial workflow for the daily newspaper's print, online and mobile offers. “For us, Content-X plays an essential role in our digital strategy and future objectives. This solution convinced everyone,” said Peter Zehrer, Technical Director for Prepress at the Vorarlberger Zeitungsverlag und Druckerei GmbH.

High Speed with Content-X

Content-X is a modern, streamlined and easy-to-use editorial tool that was developed for cross-media work. Basically, this solution consists of three components: the Content Management System DC-X by Digital Collections, InDesign by Adobe and ContentLink by ppi Media. In contrast to classic editorial systems, the striking features of Content-X are its speed and simplicity. This solution can be installed, implemented and learned in just a few days. Apart from the Vorarlberger Nachrichten, Content-X is also successfully implemented at the Cellesche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Rheinische Post and Wochenblatt-Verlag, located in Ravensburg, Germany.

Gold Medal in the Combined Event

However, Content-X is not only applied as an editorial solution for daily newspapers. Weeklies, third-party publications and magazines are also planned and produced using Content-X. “I'm sure that the future will prove just how versatile Content-X is. We are presently holding interesting discussions in the field of Corporate Publishing,” said Norbert Ohl, COO of ppi Media. With its semantic search function and intelligent image and text archiving system, this solution is also excellently suited for PR departments and agencies.

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MediaCorp has completed its publishing system integration. The new workflow for TODAY started with the implementation of SAP’s IS-M/AM system and an update of the Prestige editorial system. Both are now fully integrated. With PlanPag as its central planning system, MediaCorp creates the page plans for Singapore’s second largest daily newspaper and then forwards them to the editorial system using standardized interfaces.

At MediaCorp, IS-M/AM is integrated in finance and controlling modules from the SAP ERP family. ppi Media provides extensive know-how on SAP IS-M/AM from over 50 reference installations at news publishers worldwide. Atex Prestige is integrated based on XML standards. ppi Media’s experience covers more than 100 installations with various editorial systems at newspapers worldwide.

About MediaCorp

MediaCorp is a leading media company in Singapore with the most complete range of platforms, spanning television, radio, newspapers, magazines, movies, digital and out-of-home media.

It pioneered the development of Singapore’s broadcasting industry, with the broadcast of radio in 1936 and television in 1963. Today, MediaCorp has over 50 products and brands in four languages (English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil), reaching out to all adults in Singapore every week.

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Multichannel publishing with Content-X is impressive. Due to its versatility, this streamlined, InDesign-based editorial solution was a real crowd-puller. Content-X provides print editions as well as publishers’ websites and apps with content. The distribution of content is simple. The editor creates an article in a web editor or directly in InDesign and then assigns images and videos to it if required. The editor-in-chief then selects the output channels. The editorial workflow with Content-X reflects the newsroom architecture in many of today’s publishing houses. Another highlight at ppi Media’s stand was AdX. This integrated solution for reserving ads in print, online, mobile and broadcast provides a cross-media environment for ad sales staff. On a central graphic user interface, AdX shows all free and booked ad spaces in a publisher’s newspapers, magazines, websites and mobile apps. Intelligent filters facilitate the process of booking cross-media ad campaigns. AdX is browser-based and, with its GUI for different multimedia channels, is extremely easy to operate. In addition, users can enter all the order data that is relevant for the SAP IS-M/AM booking system in AdX.

Closely entwined like Vienna and Sacher: printnet OM and APL

In the traditional field of newspaper planning and production, ppi Media’s prepress solution printnet OM for APL (Automatic Plate Loading) was in great demand. This output management system knows and meets the requirements of the highly automated APL workflow and ensures the correct imaging sequence of printing plates. Besides printnet OM, PlanPag, the central planning system for newspaper production, and the new AdMan ad delivery workflow were also successful, as underlined by the contracts signed by MediaNorge AS (Norway) and Schwäbischer Zeitungsverlag (Germany).

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The ad delivery extension, a web portal for uploading ads automatically, monitors different data delivery channels, e.g. e-mail, FTP, ISDN or web, round the clock. The transferred data (sender, subject, e-mail text, file name and attachments) is assigned to the correct jobs on delivery. Following the administration of the motifs and jobs in AdMan, pdfPerfect then performs a preflight check on the delivered PDF and EPS files, ensuring a transparent and secure ad production workflow at Schwäbischer Verlag. “AdMan has been in daily operation since 2000 and runs very reliably. So purchasing the new ad delivery workflow extension was a logical step for us. We look forward to continued cooperation with ppi Media,” said Klaus Zellmer, CEO of MSG Media Service Leutkirch.

About AdMan

ppi Media’s ad production system AdMan combines all the classic tasks in the ad department into one logical unit. The production of classified, liner and display ads and processing of digitally delivered ads, banners and flash animations as well as full and partial assignments is organized via electronic job folders. AdMan features an open architecture that allows the seamless integration of standard editors and DTP systems for print and online. Comprehensive control and monitoring functions enhance the workflow in the ad production department.

Media Norge has set its sights high: to produce newspapers more cheaply and efficiently and yet make them more attractive to readers and ad customers, in order to be able to compete against news providers on the internet. “During the reorganization of our ad management workflow at Aftenposten, Bergens Tidende, Fædrelandsvennen and Stavanger Aftenblad, we made a conscious decision to combine high standards and functionality, so ppi Media was our first choice,” says Rune Nilsen, IT manager advertising systems.

Ad management with PlanPag and AdPag

Today, ad customers demand almost unlimited layout options in daily newspapers as well. And late deadlines are a must. With their advertising products, Norwegian publishers have repeatedly set globally acclaimed standards. Up to now, only very few software solutions were able to produce innovative advertising formats in a highly automated workflow as ppi Media’s digital production planning systems. Together with AdPag and solutions from third-party suppliers, PlanPag will streamline the planning, production, pagination and page assembly workflows of the newspapers published by Media Norge ASA from 2012. Explaining Media Norge’s decision in favor of PlanPag, Rune Nilsen said: “We were looking for a central solution for our ad value chain which coordinates and monitors the information flow and, at the same time, is so open and flexible that new modules can be added and old ones replaced any time.” In the new workflow, classified ads will already be paginated on the basis of booking data for the ad pages. The EPS data will be placed automatically after delivery. The ad deadline can be extended until just before printing starts.

About Media Norge AS

Media Norge AS is a subsidiary of the Schibsted media group. The company, founded in 2009, publishes the national newspaper Aftenposten (daily paid circulation 240.000), the locally based newspaper Aften (circ. 105.000) and the three regional newspapers Bergens Tidende (circ. 82.000), Fædrelandsvennen (circ. 37.000) and Stavanger Aftenblad (circ. 64.000). Media Norge is also owner of the online classifieds site Finn.no.

In addition to its own production systems, ppi Media will, in future, also maintain external systems and the Linux operating system at RNZ. “By continuously monitoring the most important applications on the server and checking the OS resources such as the CPU, RAM and file systems with regard to utilization and availability, potential faults can be detected and fixed at an early stage. We hope to achieve maximum availability of the systems from the Application Services from our software supplier, ppi Media,” says Daniel Schulze, CEO of the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung.

Manuel Scheyda, Senior Vice President of Support Operations at ppi Media, is certain that this target will be achieved. “To secure permanent system availability, we have taken extensive preventive measures that cover a large number of routines. These include checking how full the file systems and databases are and checking the processes that are running in the CTM.” If any faults are detected, an automatic message is sent by email or text message to the IT standby team at RNZ. On request, IT staff at the publishing house will receive personal notification from ppi Media's support center.

The Application Services

ppi Media has been offering extensive Application Services since 2010. Apart from the services ordered by RNZ, the Application Services also include, for example, cloning guidelines, i.e. customized guidelines for duplicating production and test systems. To ensure production security if the primary server should fail, ppi Media offers its customers customized tools for replicating the data systems and databases. Mittelbayerisches Druckzentrum Regensburg, Rheinische Post and Druckhaus Waiblingen are all Application Services customers of ppi Media.

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More information about C2C

Since it was launched in October 2010, Content-X has already been installed at Cellesche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Schwäbischer Zeitungsverlag. Whereas in Celle Content-X is used to produce daily newspapers, in Frankfurt it is implemented for magazines and in Ravensburg for weeklies. Düsseldorf splits the production of its third-party products.

Third-party products are a booming, lucrative business. With Content-X, they are produced faster, more easily and, above all, are not restricted to a specific site. Different magazines produced by the RP Media Group as a service provider will be created with the new editorial workflow. All editors at the external publishing houses are equipped with a Content-X web editor, which is used to enter texts and upload and assign images. When the texts have been completed, the editors can release them for layout at the publisher’s in Düsseldorf. While a magazine is being created from the individual images and texts, the editors of the third-party products can view the current status of the publication anytime.

“Content-X is a highly transparent, efficient and economical solution for everyone involved – with great potential for us and our customers, because apart from the print workflow, Content-X also provides an option for multi-channel publishing,” says Stephan Garre, publishing coordinator at the RP Media Group. “With this upgrade, we can also use ppi Media’s existing workflow for newspapers and advertisers, a highly automated and quality-assured system, to produce individual magazines and, in so doing, reap the benefits of both worlds.”

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Caption: Content-X links the Content Management System DC-X with Adobe InDesign. This editorial system allows users to search, place and track cross-media content in InDesign easily and conveniently. Any formatting required specifically for print content is done in InDesign and can be intuitively defined and fully automated. Any changes made to the content in InDesign or the CMS are rewritten, ensuring synchronicity at all times. By focusing on the essentials, Content-X is a streamlined, cost-saving solution that is simple to operate.